Practitioners

Michael Monk - Clinical Director

Dr Michael Monk is one of very few medically qualified doctors in the UK who have also trained in Osteopathy and Acupuncture.Although now retired as a doctor, he remains on the GMC Register and is bound by their codes of practice . He has a wealth of experience gained over nearly 40 years of private practice in Musculoskeletal Medicine.He is continuing to work at Brewers Cottage using manual therapies and acupuncture. He remains on the register of osteopaths with the General Council of Osteopaths, and accredited with the British Medical Acupuncture Society.

His specialist areas are treating longstanding pain, pain patterns persisting after operations, and complex persistent problems and the treatment of menopausal, periodand infertilityproblems with acupuncture and related techniques.

Many of the patients he sees come for help with problems that have been present for months or years. Because he has trained in conventional medicine as well as Western Medical Acupuncture and Osteopathy he can bring a breadth of experience and practical knowledge to treating your particular problem safely and successfully.

Michael qualified as a doctor from St Mary’s Hospital Medical School, (now part of Imperial College, London). After a post-registration period in hospital medicine he spent six years in the Royal Navy, training and working as a GP before going on to specialise as a Radiologist, first in the Navy and then at St Thomas’ Hospital, London. He has held consultant posts in the NHS in Radiology.

His work in the NHS led to an interest in Musculoskeletal Medicine, and he went on to study Osteopathy at the London College of Osteopathic Medicine which trains medical doctors in Osteopathy. He later taught there while also practising in Harley Street.

He first saw acupuncture being used in Hong Kong, where he was stationed for 2 years in the Navy. He has trained in Acupuncture with some of the world’s leading authorities including Dr Felix Mann and Professor Johannes Bischko. He also studied Intramuscular Stimulation (IMS) with Professor Chan Gunn. He has studied with Dr Jackie Filshie on the use of acupuncture to help pain in cancer patients, and with Professor Elisabet Stener-Victorin on using acupuncture for infertility and women's health. He holds the Postgraduate Award in Assisted Reproduction Technology from the University of Warwick.

He has a special interest also in healthy ageing and Exercise as Medicine.

Sarah Monk

Sarah Monk has overall responsibility for running the practice but also works as a practitioner herself using Mindbody approaches. She works with patients suffering infertility, chronic pain, IBS and stress and anxiety, using these approaches. She also teaches the Wellness Response.

Sarah's academic career and professional life has been interesting and varied. She read English Literature and Philosophy at the University of East Anglia and then taught English as a foreign language in Hong Kong and mainland China. Returning to the UK, and by then married, she became the Personal Assistant to the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod at the House of Lords. It was an eventful and challenging time to be working at Westminster coming as it did at the end of the IRA's bombing campaign of mainland Britain, the House of Parliament being a prime target.

Leaving Black Rod's office, where organising a State Opening of Parliament was all in a day's work, Sarah then had four children. After her youngest child went to school she had a change of direction and did an Honours Degree in Psychology with the Open University.

Postgraduate training has included an Advanced Diploma in Hypnotherapy, the Postgraduate Award in Assisted Reproduction Technology at Warwick University, and training with Dr Alice Domarin a Mindbody Approach to Infertility in Boston, USA. She is one of only a handful of people trained personally by Alice Domar and qualified to deliver this approach in the UK.

With Michael, she also shares an interest in healthy ageing and in Exercise as Medicine.

Postgraduate Award in Assisted Reproduction Technology, University of Warwick

Graduate Member, British Psychological Society

Senior Member, General Hypnotherapy Register

David Rigg

David Rigg's background experience in trauma and rehabilitation is exceptional. As a young man he joined the army and completed the All Arms Commando course and pre-parachute selection before transferring to the Royal Army Physical Training Corps. Training with Special Forces and Commando Regiments he had first hand experience of severe trauma and injury and developed a special interest in injury and exercise rehabilitation. He established rehabilitation services in Iraq and was the first rehabilitation specialist into Iraq in the Gulf War. After completing the service rehabilitation course at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, Headley Court, he went on to study at St Marys University College, gaining an Honours Degree in Sports Rehabilitation. After leaving the army he joined a private company where he delivered a biopsychosocial treatment model using a cognitive behavioural approach (CBT) in an occupational health role to provide rehabilitation services for major organisations. These included FTSE 100 companies, insurance companies, local government, utilities companies and the emergency services. He also worked on the NHS Condition Management Program providing exercise interventions for people on incapacity benefit. He returned to Headley Court as a civilian, to provide rehabilitation and re-education programs for service personnel with complex trauma issues, lower limb amputees and hip and groin pain. There can be few more experienced people to offer rehabilitation and reeducation programmes to you in groups, post surgery and post injury, and we are delighted that he is joining us. David also has enormous experience at running group sessions which are notoriously difficult to deliver but which as a format offer the highest chance of success for the individual.

Staff

Izzi

Our Receptionist and Deputy Practice Manager, Izzi, is a Geology graduate from Edinburgh University, a Mountain Leader, and soon to be a Chemistry teacher. As many of you know, Izzi is also Sarah and Michael's younger daughter and she has been very ably filling this role for us after our previous member of staff retired. Izzi has done sterling work for us, not only in supporting patients, but also by assisting on the IT side and especially with our move to an electronic Patient Management System where she has been involved with data transfer.

We will be very sorry to lose her in the Practice when she moves on to Sheffield University to commence her PGCE in Chemistry but she will continue to work for us on special projects and on the data transfer side of the PMS.

Izzi also intends to develop her guiding business alongside teaching and will be running guided activities as part of our abilitationprogramme. These will offer a progressive challenge starting with walking in beautiful but 'ridiculously flat' Essex and Suffolk countryside and moving on to more strenuous and demanding hill walking in the Peak and Lake Districts.

David RiggBSc (Hons), BASRaT

Graduate Sports Rehabilitator

Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist

Member of The National Strength and Conditioning Association

Member of the British Association of Sports Rehabilitators and Trainers

Member of the United Kingdom Rehabilitation Council

Izzi BSc (Hons)

Mountain Leader (Summer)

Walking for Health Leader

Support Team

Many people help us in the background to ensure the practice runs smoothly, such as Colin Hammond of HeronIT (www.heronit.co.uk) for our computer systems, and Gillian Tyrrell at Spic'n’Span (www.spicnspancleaning.co.uk) we are indebted to them. Some of our support team have been with us for a very long time indeed and so we wanted to make special mention of them.

Adrian and Adam

Many of you comment on the garden. Adrian Bland, who has been with us for well over fifteen years, takes the credit together with Adam his longstanding associate. Our desire for a shaggy, cottagey, non corporate garden is the bane of their lives as it resists ‘tidying’ completely. But they humour us nonetheless and reliably and cheerfully keep the outside looking pretty for everyone to enjoy.

Chris

Chris Tolley is our decorator. Chris is hitting the ten years with us mark and recently admitted he was ‘coming round to’ the colour schemes and even that he quite likes the painted beams after all! (We have adopted the Scandinavian tradition of light coloured painted beams which to our mind makes for a lighter, airier interior than the black beams you commonly see in the UK). Chris is very accommodating and works unsociable hours to fit in with the Practice. He is instrumental in helping us maintain the inside of the building to a very high standard.

Nick and Steve

Nick Sinclair and Steve (who in his other life plays in a rock band) are our window cleaners and have, like Adrian, been coming here for well over fifteen years. Innumerable patients tell us they have unsuccessfully tried to poach them, being far less fortunate than us in their window cleaning service. We really appreciate their reliable service and their unfailing cheerfulness - and for not abandoning us for pastures new!

Nick and his merry men

Nick Reynolds, Andy and Scott have on many occasions dropped everything to come and sort things out for us on the buildings and maintenance front. Like Chris, they frequently work out of hours to get things done quickly and so as not to interfere with practice running. Nick is skilled at working within the constraints of this listed building and understands the need to maintain the integrity of the building whilst at the same time ensuring it is ‘fit for purpose’ and safe for patients. They are a great bunch to have around.